Inkjet printers are well known in the art. A typical modern inkjet printer comprises electronic circuitry that enables the printer to receive electrical signals from a personal computer, for example, and convert signals into control signals that control an inkjet cartridge. Inkjet cartridges for such inkjet printers typically include a contact strip having contact points and nozzles. The contact points of the inkjet cartridge are used to receive electric signals from the printer to which the cartridge is connected. The signals are used to control nozzles in the inkjet cartridges. In thermally activated inkjet cartridges, each cartridge has heater circuits and resistors that are energized via the electrical signals, permitting a controlled amount of ink to be delivered from the inkjet cartridge to print media, such as paper or photographic quality sheets.
Inkjet cartridges are increasingly becoming more sophisticated and complex in their construction. Longer lifetimes are also required of cartridges, particularly those for use with printers having an off-carriage ink reservoir which replenishes the cartridge's ink supply. This has lead to greater sophistication in the so-called “servicing” of cartridges by a printer. It is normal procedure for printers to have a service station at which various functions are performed on the cartridges while they are mounted in the printer carriage such as wiping, spitting and capping. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,826. Wiping comprises moving a wiper of a specified material across the printhead of a cartridge to remove paper dust, ink spray and the like from the nozzle plate of the printhead. Spitting includes the ejection of ink into a waste ink containment area, and is performed to prevent ink in nozzles which have not been fired for some time from drying and crusting.
In many current inkjet printers, the inkjet cartridge is a consumable component. That is, when all the ink in the inkjet cartridge is used, the inkjet cartridge is disposed of or recycled and a new cartridge is placed into the printer. Still, even though the inkjet cartridge is a consumable component, it is desirable to increase the life expectancy of the cartridge. Specifically, it is known that because most of the life of an inkjet cartridge is spent “waiting” to be used (i.e. the inkjet cartridge is not printing), the nozzles of the inkjet cartridge can degrade.
Prior solutions to this degradation problem included leaving the inkjet cartridge in the printer or providing a separate “humidor” for the inkjet cartridge after it is removed from the printer. While this is acceptable for keeping the nozzles in proper working order, it is often cumbersome in that it does not lend itself to a simple, swappable and easy-to-use combined ink and media consumable design. Furthermore, in the case of a humidor, manual capping is required if the inkjet cartridge is removed from the printer. In the case where the inkjet cartridge is left in the printer, priming ink is required to bring the nozzles back to working order.
Thus, there is a need for a device that will allow an inkjet cartridge, in combination with media, to be quickly removed from a printer for extended periods of times, and/or for a device that will permit an inkjet cartridge to b maintained in working order for an extended period of time between printing jobs. Still further, there is a need for a device that will permit a consumable, including an inkjet cartridge, to be quickly and easily removed from a printer during periods of non-use and/or when a different inkjet cartridge is desired to be used, such as, by way of example, when different inks and/or printing media is needed, etc., by using a simple and easy method of sealing the nozzles from the ambient atmosphere.
The prior art has attempted to deal with the situation by providing a cap that is contained in the printer. The problem with this is that a cap that is used with more than one inkjet cartridge can transfer residue from a previous cartridge to the next inkjet cartridge. Thus, there is a need for a device that will allow for sealing of nozzles via a device that is dedicated to an individual print cartridge, but is easily and readily available for use.